The Instruments of Exile in the Story of Ibn ul Vaqt

Ibn ul Vaqt’s story elevates one’s understanding of the exilic experience: from one initially associating the exilic experience to a basic and general expression of homelessness, one now views it as a mental and physical torture of the exiled figure which occurs due to the alienating of, both, his public and private lives.

Ibn ul Vaqt’s private existence was invaded by a perpetual desire to be known by the British as “the man the company of whom is most pleasurable and the works of whom are most efficient.” And to achieve that end he tirelessly organized several feasts (to the extent that his financial stability became compromised), bought horses of great physical attributes and beauty to lend to the Sahibs, and even contemplated on having an ice cream sent to a Sahib who really enjoyed them. He set, in stone, this ravenous need to be the price of his happiness and it was precisely because of this that he, when he never got the reciprocity which he thought he deserved, which was too much to practically ask for, usually remained unhappy and at considerable unease: this obviously alienating presence in his private life had consumed him completely.

His conversation with Hajjat ul Islam on the latter’s first visit, more than solidifies the existence of this alienating factor in his private self and shows how it affects the exilic figure. Firstly, the fact that both relatives were majorly not on the same page when they were trying so hard to achieve precisely the opposite, shows the extent to which this external influence from within Ibn ul Vaqt had brought about an external change in his mindset and thinking process which were now contrary to that of his countryman, let alone that of a relative and an old friend. Secondly Ibn ul Vaqt’s persistency in trying, despite getting turned down at every request, which struck a less favorable bargain than the previous one on Ibn ul Vaqt’s part, to get Hajjat ul Islam to stay at his house shows the desperation of the former to infuse a whiff of the placating and soothing home aroma in the suffocating atmosphere of his exiled existence. Further proof for this desperation can be unearthed from the brief mention of Ibn ul Vaqt’s illness: in the state of illness, his cries for the simple Indian dishes, for the tastes of which he had pined for months, is tantamount to him gasping for a lungful of fresh air in a smoke-infested atmosphere where breathing, and hence nourishing his personal self, is seldom achieved.  

These internal factors coupled with Ibn ul Vaqt’s completely changed outlook which conformed to the “British Identity” practically swept away the possibility of him being, even minutely, at home in this vast ocean of exile. The Indians refused to approach him with matters other than those related strictly to work and the British never collectively and wholeheartedly accepted him as one of their own. He was thus tragically caught in the middle and without the tug of home, he gradually spiraled down deeper into exile as his personal self was getting increasingly intoxicated by his need to be accepted by the British as one of their own.

These two instruments of his exilic experience, the alienating of the personal self and of the public image, thus reinforced his tragic state in increasing amounts till his conversations with Hajjat ul Islam seem to open new avenues for him.